CBBS
The CBBS ( Computerized Bulletin Board System ; English for computerized bulletin board system ) was a computer program by Ward Christensen , for each other, which allowed him and other computer hobbyists digital text messages on an over telephone and modem to leave accessible computer and read.
The CBBS / Chicago operated by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess (1945–2019) since 1978 is considered the first mailbox in the world. It forms the cornerstone of a subculture of dial-up hackers, hackers and computer clubs who have created diverse communication platforms and electronic meeting places around the world.
By the mid-1990s, the mailbox scene became the forerunners of free Internet services in the non-academic sector (including FidoNet , UUCP networks, Individual Network ), before commercial ISPs could offer dial-up Internet and later DSL to a mass audience.
history
XMODEM as the basis
Ward Christensen and Randy Suess met in 1975 as members of CACHE , a local Chicago computer club . As was customary at the time, they used compact cassettes for data storage. One way of transferring the data to it was to use a 300 baud acoustic coupler for audio transmission to the cassette player. Ward Christensen wrote a simple program for this in January 1977 to beep the data from the floppy to the cassette . The program formed blocks of 128 bytes and a simple checksum . He published it under the name MODEM.ASM .
Dave Jaffe later wrote a program called BYE to allow remote users to access a CP / M system and operate it from there. In order to be able to transfer files between the systems, MODEM was adapted so that it did not output any status messages on the console . During the download or upload period, the telephone connection was used purely for file transfer and not disrupted at the same time as the console outputs from MODEM. This small change led to the new name XMODEM and was the starting signal for one of the most widely ported file transfer protocols at the time , as it was adapted to almost every hardware environment and enabled the cross-system transfer of binary computer files. The latter solved a major problem, since otherwise the systems would not allow a common data exchange.
First modems for hobbyists
Around the same time, April 1977, Dale Heatherington and Dennis Hayes teamed up and launched the DCHayes 80-103A , the first 300 baud modem for S-100 systems, priced at $ 299. It made modem technology available to computer hobbyists and was the forefather of Hayes Microcomputer Products ' smart modem , which in 1981 would set the industry standard for all subsequent modems. Until then, acoustic couplers were widespread. While the calls still had to be accepted manually, the modems first made it possible to accept them automatically and thus enabled the idea of a computerized BBS (mailbox).
Creation of the CBBS
In January 1978, Chicago was hit by the Great Blizzard , which hit record levels of snow in the American Midwest . Ward Christensen and Randy Suess were among those hit by the storm. The success of XMODEM encouraged further experimentation. They loved the idea of creating a computerized answering machine and message center that would allow members to log in with their new modems and leave announcements in the form of digital texts for upcoming meetings.
The snowstorm gave them the peace and quiet they needed to carry out such a project. Christensen worked on the software and Suess assembled an S-100 computer to run the program. Within two weeks they had a working system; The corresponding tests began at the beginning of February.
Randy Suess put the system together from individual components himself. It consisted of the S-100 board, which he had to equip himself with the connectors and the memory card with 8 kilobytes of RAM. He also used eight 1702 EEPROMS for the CP / M BIOS and an 8-inch floppy disk drive with 117 volts supply voltage . Since its motor was not made for continuous operation, he developed a circuit that only switched on the system when the phone rang and after hanging up gave enough time to finish the last write operations before the power was cut again. He mounted an old temperature recorder on the floppy , which was designed for two days per card and noted the power supply. This enabled him to read the mailbox activity later on the recorded graph.
On February 16, 1978, they put the CBBS into operation. Christensen and Suess described their innovation in the 1978 article Hobbyist Computerized Bulletin Board in the November issue of Byte Magazine .
Since the Internet was still small and unavailable to most computer users, users had to dial the CBBS directly through a modem. Users had to take turns accessing the system because the CBBS hardware and software only supported a single modem for most of its existence. Both of them often observed users while they were online and commented or chatted when warranted.
The CBBS successors
After the start of the CBBS / Chicago with a 173 kilobyte single-density / single-side drive, they later expanded it by another, then switched to double-density / double-sided drives and, after a year, to a 10 megabyte Seagate hard drive. The hardware was later exchanged for a PC clone with a V20 CPU. A slightly adapted CP / M version based on the 8080 assembler ran on it for more than 15 years. She inspired the creation of many other mailboxes. About ten other mailboxes were operated with this mailbox software in 1981.
The program had many ideas that can be found in online forums to this day .
When Christensen and Suess went their separate ways, Ward operated Christensen's Ward's Board until the early 1990s.
Randy Suess founded wlcrjs, the first publicly accessible Unix mailbox in 1982, which exchanged messages and data with other systems via UUCP and thus networked with other mailboxes. These systems were thus indirectly connected to the Internet and some of them later became points of presence or websites. It changed its name to Chinet in 1984 . Randy's Hobby Chinet later offered its 600 users twelve dial-in lines. With the increasing dial-in to the Internet via ISPs, direct modem dial-in became unimportant, and after the hardware was destroyed in a fire in 1996, the CBBS now only exists as a web-based forum on the Suess website chinet.com .
In their article in the Byte, Christensen and Suess imagined the future of mailboxes as "nodes" in an automated message and program exchange as it became reality in 1984 with FidoNet and UUCP.
On February 16, 2003, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley declared that day BBS (Mailbox Day) in honor of the world's first mailbox, which was established that day 25 years ago . An article with a photo of Ward and the CBBS hardware appeared in the Chicago Tribune shortly thereafter .
Technical system
The CBBS / Chicago was operated on different hardware over time. The first was an S-100 bus system ( Altair 8800 ) with 8 kilobytes (1k × 1 chips) RAM, eight 1702 EEPROMs for the CP / M BIOS , an 8080 CPU and a Hayes 300 baud modem card . A single-density / single-sided 8 ″ floppy drive with 173 kilobytes was used to store the data.
Like many of the computers of the time, the CBBS did not have a screen. The input and output took place purely via serial terminals. A user often only had a terminal keyboard and possibly a printer for the output of the communication with the CBBS.
The CBBS program
The program consisted of approximately 8300 lines of assembler code. It was written for a CP / M system with an 8080 or Z80 CPU and required an S-100 modem card and one or two drives.
In addition to the program, there was also an adapted CP / M BIOS that started the CBBS immediately after the system was started and not the CP / M command line interpreter.
Main loop
After the computer was started by the call signaling (ringing) of the telephone line, the modified BIOS loaded the mailbox software. This ensured that the system basically worked before it did
- answered the call
- determined the transmission rate (110 or 300 baud),
- handled the caller's requests
- and finally hung up.
Functions
The following functions were available to the user during the call:
- S: View the news summary
- R: display a message
- B: Displaying the system message (bulletin)
- E: Write a new message
- K: delete a message
- W: Display the welcome message
- H: Display the help text
- C: Switch between lowercase and uppercase letters
- D: Duplex mode change (return input)
- N: Send NUL characters (to enable some terminals to return carriage without data loss)
- P: Switching on / off the bell signal at every input request
- X: Change to expert mode, with fewer explanatory texts
- G: End the call
Data storage
The goal was to store 200 to 300 messages. These were saved on a floppy disk with a maximum of 10 messages per file, as CP / M limited the number of files to 64 and the total storage volume of a floppy disk to 280 kilobytes. The file was automatically derived from the message number. One message consisted of:
- Message number
- number of lines
- date
- Sender / author
- receiver
- title
- Password (made it possible to delete the message)
- Message text
Additional files contained the summary of 100 messages each and the system texts and dialogs (question files).
License and Distribution
The software could be ordered from Randy Suess for 50 US dollars. It was distributed in source code with a simple license to use it.
Due to the distribution of the software in the form of assembler source code for CP / M it was common and necessary to adapt the system in assembler for the target hardware. This made it open to a broad platform of S-100 systems. So it was ported to 28k NorthStar , two-CPU NorthStar and Thinker Toys , among others .
Keith Peterson distributed a somewhat simpler and assembled COM file for CP / M under the name MINICBBS, which, however, required a "license" from Suess. It marks a first break in the self-image of the generation of “computer hobbyists” who were used to building a system completely by themselves, and the following generation of early “home computer owners” who then turned themselves into mailbox operators as mailbox programs and often called themselves “ SysOp ”.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c CUSTOMIZED: S-100 KIT COMPUTER: CBBS. Retrieved July 18, 2014 .
- ^ A b c Ward Christensen, Randy Suess: The Birth of the BBS. In: Chinet. 1989, accessed February 18, 2007 .
- ^ A b Ward Christensen, Randy Suess: Hobbyist Computerized Bulletin Board . In: Byte Magazine . tape 3 , no. November 11 , 1978, pp. 150–157 ( devili.iki.fi vintagecomputer.net (PDF) ).
- ↑ Christos JP Moschovitis, Hilary Poole, Tami Schuyler, Theresa M. Senft: History of the Internet . ABC-Clio, 1999, ISBN 1-57607-118-9 .
- ↑ Chinet - Public Access since 1982. In: chinet.com. Retrieved January 25, 2018 .
- ↑ Patrick Kampert: Low-key pioneer: Creative notion sparked new day for computing. In: Chicago Tribune . February 16, 2003, accessed January 22, 2018 .
- ^ A b Jason Scott : BBS: The Documentary as a complete film in the Internet Archive , 2005, episode 1
